Ken Lay defends greyhound racing amid calls to have it shut down

Thursday, 1 October, 2015, by Greyhound Racing Victoria

GRV Board Member and former Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, Ken Lay, has spoken with Neil Mitchell on his 3AW Morning program following Mitchell’s calls to have greyhound racing banned.

Mr Lay told Mitchell that there were indeed greedy and dishonest people in the industry that would do anything to make a quick buck, given the prize money on offer, but said these were a minority.

“There is a very, very big chunk of this industry that is made up of mums and dads that love their dogs desperately, that would do anything for their dogs. They enjoy it, it’s their social outlet,” Mr Lay said.

“You go to one of these meetings, and it’s like going to a game of football. People everywhere, they all know each other, they know each other’s dogs,” he added, highlighting the social and tight-knit community nature of greyhound racing.

Mr Lay also said it was important for the industry to slow breeding down and there were a number of strategies in place to do that.

“If the industry doesn’t change the government won’t have any choice. So there is a sense, an urgency in the need for change that many in the industry get.”